Pastor Derek Bignal, president of the West Indies Union of Seventh-day Adventists, has decried the immorality that is plaguing the Jamaican society.

Speaking at the Emancipation Day, National Day of Prayer, held at the Andrews Memorial Seventh-day Adventist Church yesterday, Bignal attributed the social and economic breakdown in the country to the lack of accountability in the various sectors of the society.

"The social standards have declined and we blame it on slavery. The economic crunch in the bauxite sector, and we blame it on telecommunication companies," Bignal said.

Bignal encouraged churches and Jamaicans to take a more proactive approach to rescuing the nation and solving problems.

"Jamaica was once the pearl of the Caribbean, but now we have become John-crow beads," Bignal argued.

Bignal also said that Jamaicans had been miseducated and misinformed for too long, which had resulted in many of its social ills.

Bignal cited research and speeches that addressed the growth and development of the region but which, in reality, provided no room for solutions.

He urged the Church to copy the principles of the Good Samaritan and to rise up and take charge.